Battle of Cardassia
The Battle of Cardassia was the final battle of the Dominion War, fought between the forces of the Federation Alliance and the Cardassian Union against the Breen and Dominion Alliance History Prelude In the closing days of the war, after the Federation had developed a countermeasure to the Breen energy dampening weapons, the Female Changeling ordered Dominion forces to withdraw completely from Federation, Klingon, and Romulan space. By doing so, the Dominion was able to cover a smaller area of space, and also shorten supply lines which had been over-extended. It would also give them a chance to concentrate on rebuilding and replenishing their forces. The Klingon Chancellor Martok, the Romulan General Velal, the Federation's Admiral Ross, and Deep Space 9's Captain Benjamin Sisko met to discuss a response to this latest move by the Dominion. While Velal counseled bottling the Dominion up in Cardassian space, the others disagreed, feeling that it would be a mistake to allow the Dominion time to rest and rebuild. The allies agreed to stage a final invasion of Cardassia. ( }}) The battle Several days later, the allied forces left Deep Space 9 and headed for Cardassia Prime. As the allies approached the Dominion lines, the Female Changeling and Weyoun realized that the center of the Dominion lines were vulnerable. They attempted to communicate with their forces. But at the same time the Cardassian people rose up against the Dominion, and sabotaged all the power and communications facilities on the planet - cutting off headquarters from the fleet. In retaliation the Dominion destroyed Lakarian City. The allies took advantage of the weakness in the middle of the Dominion lines, but at first were not making any headway. The Romulan flagship was destroyed in the fighting. But then the Cardassian military switched sides, attacking both Breen and Jem'Hadar vessels. When communications was finally restored between Dominion headquarters and their fleet, they learned of this latest reversal. The Female Changeling then ordered the Jem'Hadar to commit genocide against the Cardassian people. As the Jem'Hadar began leveling the surface of Cardassia and the allies arrived in orbit, Commander Kira Nerys, Elim Garak, and several other Cardassian soldiers stormed the briefing room and captured the Female Changeling. She refused to order her forces to stand down. The allies began to prepare for a three pronged attack - with the Klingons attacking the Breen, the Romulans and Cardassians attacking the Jem'Hadar, and Starfleet would attack the defense platforms. It was estimated that the allies would suffer a casulty rate of 40% from the space battle alone, with the rate even higher once surface operations began. Kira communicated with Captain Sisko and Odo on board the [[USS Defiant (NX-74205) (II)|USS Defiant]]. Odo decided to beam down and try to talk the Female Changeling into surrendering. After curing her of the disease by linking with her, she finally agreed to surrender, and ordered the Dominion to stand down. The Female Changeling further agreed to stand trial for war crimes. Odo revealed that it was time for him to go home to the Great Link and cure his people. ( ) Aftermath Fulfilling a promise he had earlier made, Chancellor Martok brought a barrel of 2309 bloodwine to Cardassian Central Command. Sisko and Ross joined him, but were unable to bring themselves to drink any of it after seeing the devastation the Dominion inflicted firsthand. Speaking to Bashir, Garak realized that his homecoming would not be a happy one, with at least 800 million of his fellow Cardassians dead. The Female Changeling and her top advisers were taken to Deep Space 9. There she signed the articles of surrender - which would come to be known as the Treaty of Bajor. ( ) She was taken into custody by the Federation, and subsequently incarcerated at Ananke Alpha. ( ) Participating Allied starships * *[[USS Defiant (NX-74205) (II)|USS Defiant]] * * * * Connections External link * Category:Dominion War